Coat of arms of Sir John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, KG

John (de) Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, KG (c. 1450 – 9 February 1498) was an English Lancastrian nobleman who was made a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

. John was born about 1450 to Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles and

Margaret Beauchamp Margaret Beauchamp (1404 – 14 June 1467) was the eldest daughter of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and his first wife, Elizabeth de Berkeley. As the eldest child of a family without male issue, Margaret was expected to inherit from h ...

. He was a maternal half-brother of

Margaret Beaufort Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. A descendant of ...

, and thus an uncle of the half-blood of Henry VII. John died and was buried in February 1498 in Westminster, England.

War of the Roses

John's father, Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles, was slain at the

Battle of Towton The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between a ...

in 1461, and his elder half-brother,

Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles (c.1428–1470), was an English nobleman and soldier. From a Lancastrian family, he came to be on good terms with the Yorkist King Edward IV, but was later executed after being associated with a plot against Edwa ...

, inherited the Welles barony. Richard Welles and his son and heir,

Robert Welles, 8th Baron Willoughby de Eresby Robert Welles, 8th Baron Willoughby de Eresby and 8th Baron Welles (died 19 March 1470), was the son of Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles, and Joan Willoughby, 7th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. He was the prime mover in an uprising against Edward ...

, were both beheaded in March 1470 for involvement in an uprising against

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. After the death of Robert Welles, the Welles barony was inherited, in her own right, by his only sister, Joan Welles. However shortly after Joan Welles' death in about 1474/5, both her father, Richard Welles, and her brother, Robert Welles, were attainted by Act of Parliament, five years after their executions. As a result of the attainders, John Welles was not able to enjoy the title to the Welles barony until the attainders were reversed by Parliament under Henry VII. A pardon in 1478 did not prevent Welles from participating in

Buckingham's rebellion Buckingham's rebellion was a failed but significant uprising, or collection of uprisings, of October 1483 in England and parts of Wales against Richard III of England. To the extent that these local risings had a central coordination, the plo ...

. He escaped to his nephew, the future Henry VII, in Brittany after its collapse. Henry knighted him on 7 August 1485 and he was created Viscount sometime between 15 July and 25 November 1486CPR 1485-1494, pg. 491 and given substantial grants.

Marriage

Some time in December 1487 John married Princess Cecily of York, the daughter of

and

Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile;Although spelling of the family name is usually modernised to "Woodville", it was spelt "Wydeville" in contemporary publications by Caxton, but her tomb at St. George's Chapel, Wind ...

, making him a member of the

Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...

. Princess Cecily of York was born on 20 March 1469 in Westminster, England and died on 24 August 1507 either on the Isle of Wight or at Hatfield. The apparent aim of Henry VII was to reward his uncle for loyalty and keep Cecily from marrying a more ambitious man. John and Cecily had two children, Elizabeth Welles (c. 1489–1498) and Anne Welles (c. 1491 – c. 1499). He died 9 February 1498 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Anne died soon after. His will is as follows:

References

thePeerage.com entry
* Chrimes,S.B., ''Henry VII'', p. 36 {{DEFAULTSORT:Welles, John Welles, 1st Viscount 1450s births 1499 deaths Knights of the Garter Viscounts in the Peerage of England 15th-century English people People of the Tudor period Younger sons of barons Burials at Westminster Abbey

War of the Roses

Marriage

See also

References